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The start of a new year is a great time to shake the dust off your budget and look for some areas where you can save big bucks.

Car insurance is one of those things where you could be paying more than $1,000 annually than you need to — just because you haven’t shopped the marketplace in a few years.

6 easy steps to a better, cheaper car insurance policy!

Begin by identifying solid companies

Consider buying a one-time subscription to Consumer Reports and checking their latest list of the best auto insurance companies to find others that should make it onto your shortlist.

Get your quotes

Once you have a list of candidates, you’ll want to start getting quotes. This typically takes around 15 minutes on the phone. Have your most recent policy in front of you in case any questions come up about the make and model of your vehicle(s).

Working with an insurance broker is another option. He or she will get multiple quotes for you and you’ll have access to all the insurers they do business with. It’s an easy one-stop shop that lets you still have the flexibility of comparison pricing.

Making the calls is the most laborious part of the process. But it’s very important step and there’s no shortcut.

“Comparison sites are really just lead generation services,” Clark says. You have to shop individually with different insurers [by] calling them all.”

As insurance is state regulated, Clark would love to see each state create an online comparison-shopping tool that’s a database which can quote you across companies as a one-stop-shop kind of thing. But no state has stepped up to the plate to tackle that task yet!

Compare quotes

Once you get the quotes back, it’s time to compare them. Each quote should be based on the same amount of coverage so you can do an apples-to-apples comparison.

What if a poorly ranked company offers you a great quote? Clark says to avoid them! While the premium might be tempting, you want to be sure your insurer is there for you when the chips are down.

Know when to drop comprehensive and collision

The general rule is when the cost of comp and collision exceeds 10% of your old vehicle’s value, that’s the time to dump it and just have liability coverage.

So let’s take a simple example. Say your vehicle is worth $4,000. If you’re paying anything more than $400 annually (that’s 10% of $4,000) for comp and collision, it no longer makes any financial sense.

One notable exception to this rule: If there’s no way you could financially cover the loss of your vehicle, forget the math and keep paying for comp and collision.